This is where the adventure begins!
DHB Inc/Black Elk Outfitters Ltd. (Colo.Lic.#1313) offers self-guided trespass fee hunts on private, Colorado Ranches. We also offer fully outfiffed and guided Texas Hog Hunts on ranches near Amarillo, Texas.
This site was last updated on 1-29-10 at 1127 hrs.
2010 marks our 25th year of serving hunters from all over the world. We hope we can be of service to you. With Colorado having the largest elk herd in the United States it's not hard to understand why many of our hunters return year after year. It also explains why we book up so early in the year.
Recap for the 2009 Seasons
The 2009 season was interesting. The CDOW said we had about 5,000 more elk than in 2008, but you couldn't tell it from our ranches. The north end of the Park and the east side had great early rifle seasons. Our stats were up 1% point for the rifle seasons and down 10% points for the archery seasons. Part of our archery drop may have been caused by a full moon, and hot weather in the 2nd week of the season. As happened in 2008 the elk were just not on the ranches consistantly. When they were on the ranches they tended to be in the darkest timber they could find. Again this year the dark timber held good feed and water. It seemed that for the most part the elk were in constant motion, never in the same spot, or in one spot for long. This was the case on all of the ranches. Elk rut was drawn out and spotty. The bulls were bugling from the early archery season into the 1st rifle season and agian in the 4th. We did kill a couple of pretty good bulls, but they weretypical Colorado elk. This year when we weren't seeing elk we were seeing moose, lots of moose. On the Indian Creek we suffered during the archery season from weather that was too warm and from a mowing program that left little height to the grasses. Then in the 4th season we went 40% on elk, which all came onto the ranch after a snow on Friday night. Bears were scarce, especially on the Coyte. We saw numerous bears on the other three ranches. PLO on the Coyte and Indian Creek was the best since 2007. This season is either feast or famine every year. Early deer season was a good hunt and we are seeing more deer every year. Blackpowder was terrible, not from a lack of elk but from a lack of hunters. The CDOW cut the number of statewide licenses by about 10,000. We had 12 hunters who wanted to hunt blackpowder but none of them drew a license. The antelope rifle season was a "gimme" with a 100% success rate. The moose were thick but we had no hunters. For the rifle seasons the 2nd season was the best overall. On the stats page you can compare 2009 with 2008-06. I was afraid that 2009 was going to be worse than it was so I was pleasantly suprised by the final figures.
The CDOW will post the 2009 stats for the state and the individual GMU's on their web site probably in May. The 2008 state wide success rate for elk for all methods of take was 20% and 22% for rifle only. For the units we hunt in it was it was 18% in Unit 16 (Coyte and Buffalo Pass), 17% in Unit 17 (Trownsell and 1/2 of Indian Creek), and 13% in Unit 181 (the west 1/2 of Indian Creek), these are for rifle. If you want to break down the stats further go to the CDOW web site, click on hunting, then Big Game, and then on Statistics. The small print will kill you. Long story short, our 2008 success rates were even to 16 points higher than the state average for rifle and the archery rates were 7 to 21 points higher than the unit averages. It will be interesting to see how 2009 compares to 2008.
Reservations for the 2010
RESERVATIONS FOR 2010: As in the past, hunters who hunted with us in 2009 have until Jan. 15, 2010 to rebook for 2010. We will start taking reservations from new hunters on Jan. 15, 2010 with the following exception; for those seasons on the various ranches which did not book up we will take reservations for those ranches starting November 20, 2009.
For 2010 the season structure will be the same as 2009. There will be 4 rifle seasons for elk as before, but the 1st and 4th seasons will be by drawing or on left over licenses. The 2nd and 3rd seasons will be combined elk and deer seasons with bull elk being unlimited, deer by drawing. During the combined seasons bull elk licenses will be unlimited in the areas we hunt. All deer licenses for all methods of take are by drawing. Deer seasons are concurrent with the elk seasons, except for the Early Deer season which is the 1st week in October. The 2010 season dates are posted on our ranch pages. The application deadline for all limited licenses, elk (1st and 4th season bull or either sex, cow elk and PLO cows), deer, antelope, and moose is April 6, 2010. In our areas there are always left over licenses available for the 1st and 4th rifle seasons as well as left over cow elk licenses. These left over licenses go on sale on August 10(?) in person or by phone and online the next day. We can purchase these licenses for you or they can be bought online. Feel free to contact us about this option for hunting this year.
Licenses
License fees for NON-RESIDENTS are as follows in 2010. Bull elk and either sex elk licenses are $541. Cow elk are $351. Antelope and deer are $326. Bear are $351. Archery bear licenses and bear licenses for the 4 regular rifle seasons are over the counter with a cap. These bear licenses go on sale on July 13 and are first come first serve. These licenses are available by phone, on-line, and in person. Final license fees were set by the Wildlife Commission at the Jan. 11, 2010 meeting. Left over licenses will go on sale on August 10, 2010 in person and online on August 11, 2010. NOTE: Muzzle loading license are no longer Statewide Licenses, they are all now unit specific. For our operation that means Unit 181 or Unit 17.
Ranches
Our ranches for 2010 will be the Coyte, Indian Creek, Buffalo Pass, and Trownsell. All of our hunts are 7 days long except for the 1st and 4th rifle which are 5 day seasons. Please note that Black Elk Outfitters Ltd. offers neither guided nor outfitted hunts.
Hunt Fees
All elk/deer hunts on the Coyte, Indian Creek, and Trownsell Ranches will be $950 for the archery hunts and for the first three rifle seasons. 4th rifle seasons on theses ranches will be $850. Buffalo Pass will be $850 per hunter, archery or rifle. In 2010 we will offer group discounts for 6 or more hunters depending on the ranch and season. Special restrictions will apply for discounted groups.
We will offer 4 Early Deer hunts on the Indian Creek/Trownsell (Unit 17) and on the Coyte (Unit 16) the last week in September first week in Oct., dates to still be set. These licenses are by drawing and the hunt fee is $850 per hunter.
Other Things to Know
Our ranches are all located near Walden, Colorado. This is the North Park area of Colorado, about 165 miles northwest of Denver and 40 miles east of Steamboat Springs. All of the ranches are primarily elk ranches but we do take some very nice deer every year. All of the ranches have a camping area with some type of sanitary facility. Drinking water is not available on 4 of the ranches and must be brought in by the hunter, clean up water is generally available on the ranch. All of the ranches require a 4wd vehicle to get around the ranch with. ATC's and ATV's are allowed but are under the same restrictions as motor vehicles. NO HORSES are allowed on any of the ranches. All of the ranches are working cattle ranches so they do have cattle out during the seasons. The ranches are staffed by our personnel to handle any problems and to provide 1st responder assistance in case of an emergency. These staff people are nearly all hunters who have hunted the ranches for years, most of them are law enforcement officers, either active or retired. They will help you with any questions or concerns you might have while on the ranch. These staffers are not guides and will not provide any services beyond those listed above. Staffers may or may not be hunting during their time on the ranch.
Additional services such as groceries, gas, motels, car rentals, meat processing, and airline transportation can be obtained in Steamboat Springs. Except for car rentals, airlines, and medical attention these same services can be obtained in Walden, which is about 25 miles from the ranches.
Out of state OHV's that are used on public lands must be registered in Colorado. If you only plan to use your ATV on our ranches only then they do not have to be registered. Hunters on the Buffalo Pass during the archery seasons may want to register their ATV if they are camped on the forest. ATV permits can be obtained from most license agents or online. This is another example of the way the State gouges out of state hunters.
Muzzle loading licenses are now UNIT SPECIFIC, there are no more statewide licenses.
